Boy sought in assault on classmate with hammer
A 17-year-old Harvard-Westlake School student was being sought Tuesday by Los Angeles police after he allegedly beat a female classmate with a hammer before trying to choke her, a department spokeswoman said.
The 16-year-old girl was treated at a hospital for a broken leg and nose, said LAPD spokeswoman April Harding.
The boy, who drove off in a beige 2000 four-door Jaguar, had not been apprehended. But an LAPD senior lead officer told neighbors that police were in contact with the boy’s attorney, and school officials said late Tuesday that authorities told them the suspect was in “a controlled facility” and was being “monitored” by police.
Police said the girl went for a drive with the boy after school Monday. About 5 p.m., the two were sitting in the parked car in the 3900 block of Van Noord Avenue in Studio City, near their school.
“They were talking and he threatened to commit suicide,” Harding said. “He reached down for something and she didn’t know what it was.”
Harding said the girl became concerned because she thought it was some kind of gun or a weapon. “Then, he pulled out a hammer and starts striking her with it,” Harding said.
The girl tried to flee but her classmate also got out of the car and began choking her, said police, who were able to identify the suspect after a witness wrote down the license plate number.
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Times staff writer Carla Rivera contributed to this report.
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